Liberty on the Silver Screen

By Rob Pfaltzgraff
Published on Monday, October 01, 2007
ARTICLES

The freedom movement has an extraordinary pantheon of eloquent authors, columnists and pundits. However, like-minded voices have been glaringly absent from the medium of film. The Moving Picture Institute seeks to change that.

MPI was founded in 2005 to bring the ideals of liberty to film - the medium that, more than any other, shapes and shifts American values. To accomplish this end, MPI nurtures developing filmmakers through an internship program, provides support to filmmakers and promotes films (narrative or documentary features and shorts) that communicate the principles of freedom.

In fulfilling its mission, MPI can help SPN members and other liberty-oriented organizations fulfill theirs. To begin, MPI can advise think tanks that are venturing into short or feature-length film.

The Institute also makes its films available for public screenings. On September 12, for example, the Independence Institute organized the Colorado premiere of "Free Market Cure," an MPI project. "Free Market Cure," a collection of short films that depict government-run health care and its dangers, counters Michael Moore's misinformation-filled "Sicko." This past summer, MPI and the Cato Institute co-sponsored a "Free Market Cure" screening in the U.S. Senate Rayburn Building. The series of short films can be seen online at FreeMarketCure.com.

The Institute can provide its films for "movie parties" hosted by your organization's donors. Movie parties help promote grassroots awareness of issues in the same way that coalitions such as MoveOn.org use parties to promote political action.

MPI offers assistance, too, with internships for young, talented people who have demonstrated a genuine commitment to the medium of film. This summer, MPI placed interns with Infinitum Nihil, Johnny Depp's production company, and with Plum Pictures, whose "Grace is Gone" won the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

MPI is currently producing and promoting a range of feature-length films, including: "Indoctrinate U," a scorching exposé of ideological bias on America's college campuses; "The Singing Revolution," the inspirational story of how the Estonian people sang their way to freedom; "Mine Your Own Business," a pro-enterprise perspective on global environmentalism; and "Do As I Say, Not As I Do," based on Peter Schweizer's bestselling book, which exposes how left-wing icons have fully embraced capitalist ideas while simultaneously discouraging others from doing the same.

Whether championing free markets, defending free speech or recounting histories of liberation, the Moving Picture Institute's diverse films advance the ideals of liberty. For this reason, we at MPI do not see ourselves as idea advocates pushing partisan positions; rather, we are freedom advocates dedicated to ensuring that movies voicing under-represented, freedom-oriented perspectives get made and distributed.

Michael Moore makes abundantly clear, the most immediate, powerful way to have an impact on policy or public opinion is through film, which has a unique capacity to reach a mass audience in visually compelling, viscerally appealing ways. Al Gore exploited this reality with "An Inconvenient Truth," the partial and tendentious nature of which was masked by the film's slick presentation. In receiving an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, "An Inconvenient Truth" revealed an important truth: Film is now the vehicle of choice for individuals and organizations wishing to promote a viewpoint or popularize an idea.

Now, Moore, Gore and others of similar ilk face serious competition. MPI and its films are having a measurable, unmistakable impact. Our filmmakers are regularly featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, "Hannity's America" and C-SPAN's "Washington Journal." The mainstream media has called MPI a "talent incubator" that is "one part film production company, one part salon." MPI founder Thor Halvorssen has been deemed a "fledgling movie mogul" and a "driving force." Our films are "contentious," "moving" and "funny."

"Indoctrinate U" was the marquee event at the 2007 American Film Renaissance Festival. "Hammer & Tickle," which tells how jokes helped undo communism in the Soviet Union, won Best New Documentary Feature at the 2006 Zurich Film Festival. Several MPI films have screened on Capitol Hill.

MPI strives to ensure that important films get made. Further, MPI strives to ensure their impact upon public debate, policy and culture. Movies are much like the proverbial tree in the forest: If a great film never gets seen, we must question whether it was worth making. Hence our leveraged marketing campaigns include website signups, to demonstrate compelling public interest to potential distributors; viral video promotion on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and elsewhere; and movie parties to spark interest and debate about our films.

The public depends heavily upon visual media for its philosophical, moral and social guidance - thus it is important to make movies that sensitively and intelligently explore the ideal of liberty. If freedom is to endure - to maintain its vitality and relevance in our society - it must find its way into today's most lively and far-reaching art form.

At the Moving Picture Institute, we believe that film, more than any other medium, can bring freedom to life. Our goal is to guarantee that film's unique capacity to give shape to abstract principles, to make them move and breathe, is used to support and promote liberty.

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Rob Pfaltzgraff is executive director of the Moving Picture Institute. He can be reached at rob@thempi.org.

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